Ill have to get back to you on that one. I have taken several readings at the end of the 60min mash and lose 1-2 degrees, then I start a mash recirc for around 15min and don't really care about the temp since the mash is done at that point. But next brew day ill try to remember to check it out.

Update: Brewing right now and checked the temp after 50 min mash and 10 min recirc. Temp dropped by 5 degrees. One thing to mention, when I start the full recirc I put the pid temp at whatever the mash should be and during the 45-60 recirc it holds that temp.

Hey ddahl84
And, do you think you could do the same as a one tier with two pumps ?
Oh, and how is that 12v pump holding up ?

Thanks
Steve

Steve,

I've been researching this method as well. I want to do BIAB, but I don't want to lift heavy bags of hot dripping grain. It's not that I'm not strong enough; I don't want to make a mess.

Search the electric forum for "brutus 20". Someone out there has 2 kettles set up with each recirculating back to a connection in their respective lids. When you're ready to do the "cross-sparge" (the recirculating back and forth between kettles), you simply swap lids. This is a single-tier with 2 pumps.

Quick question, ddahl84,
How high is the top of your MT? Do you stir your mash a few times during the mash? I like the idea of a 2-tier system, because you can get away with a single pump while the down-draining is managed by gravity. The problem, to me, is that the mashtun might be too high to easily stir.
Thanks,
Keith

Thanks for the nice complements. Sorry it's taken so long to reply. The couple of things I have changed is the float switch in the mash tun, because the cheep plastic ones where not reliable and stuck under mash temps, and made a nicer switch with alarm for the solenoid water filler.

The pump has been great. I've done over 20 batches with it and love it. I really like the fact it's DC because I have wires running up my mash tun going to a relay to control the recirc.

In my opinion I like the two tier rather than two pumps. One pump is enough for something to go wrong.

I do have to put hops in a bag now otherwise it plugs up the pump.
One more thing to anyone starting a build in there house. Don't skimp on the ventilation. I tried bath fans, range hoods, and the only thing that ended up working was a Hydrofarm 400cfm in-line duct fan. 80$ on amazon. Do this first you won't regret it.